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Limited to Prewar Music, Bulgarian Station Thrives

SOFIA, Bulgaria — Because of a recent copyright dispute, Bulgarian National Radio, the public broadcaster for the country, has been limited to airing music recorded before 1946. And so far, their listeners seem to have no problem with it.

The station had a 20 percent increase in listenership in January, the first month in which the change was in effect, over December’s numbers, said Bulgarian National Radio’s chief, Alexander Velev. He cited an audience report conducted by the consumer research company Ipsos.

Bulgarian National Radio has only been playing old music — classical music, early-20th-century jazz and concert recordings of traditional folk music, drawn from the organization’s archives — since the beginning of the year.

Under European Union rules, copyright lasts for 70 years after a musician’s death.

The radio station says it was compelled to reduce its music offerings after Musicautor, an independent rights organization that controls distribution of millions of Bulgarian and foreign songs, suspended its contract with Bulgarian National Radio, after demanding a steep rise in fees, to 1.8 million leva (about $978,000) a year, from 500,000 leva (about $271,000).

But instead of discouraging listeners, some of them welcomed the sudden shift in repertoire. “We had some concerns but people keep calling to tell us that they really enjoy the music,” said Nikoleta Elenkova, Bulgarian National Radio’s spokeswoman.

Last month, Bulgarian National Radio filed a lawsuit and an antitrust complaint against Musicautor, which in turn has accused the broadcaster of playing hundreds of songs without a paid license since the ban took place.

“We were quite surprised by the approach the National Radio took,” Ivan Dimitrov, Musicautor’s executive director, told news media in Sofia, “as it won’t lead to finding a timely solution to the dispute.” Mr. Dimitrov added that such proceedings could drag on for years. The two sides met on Tuesday.

In the meantime, some Bulgarian and foreign music performers have provided the broadcaster the right to broadcast some of their works for free, until the end of this year.